Sarah vs Her Best Friend
by MyNameIsJeffNImLost
Summary: After the cereal tab surveillance fallout at the beginning of "Chuck vs the Beefcake", 2.15, Chuck and Sarah try to figure out how it's going to work before 24-hour surveillance was mandated. It's not like the previous two break-ups went well.
1. Sarah Wants Food

_Posted November 11, 2019_

This two-shot starts in the middle of 2.15, "Chuck vs the Beefcake." It's been a while, so if you don't remember it, I recommended to re-watch starting at 2.13 (or 2.14, out of order) and stop when you feel like coming back to this story (after Beefcake or Barstow—your call.) I also put a few youtube links on my Tumblr.

When re-watching, I go by production order, not Presidential speech-induced broadcast order or DVD order. That means "Best Friend," then "Suburbs," then "Beefcake." It makes a lot more sense than Chuck wanting to break-up right after he and Sarah held hands at the first Jeffster concert at the end of "Best Friend." The awkwardness of a fake Valentine's Day date after the friendship declaration makes more sense. The break-up seems more possible as an over-reaction to not having one last night in the suburbs. Even Morgan and Anna's relationship status makes more sense. (I'm not saying the relationship itself ever did.) The episode order doesn't have a continuity bearing on this story. I just felt the need to say that because it's close by.

John Casey, even though you are fictional so you were never in the service, and even though you aren't in this story, happy Veterans Day!

Disclaimer: Nobody else owns anything here, so why would I?

Disclaimer 2: No beta. Why would I sucker/obligate/subject anyone into reading this when they didn't want to? However, if you PM me corrections, I'll fix them.

* * *

_"You don't get who he is to me."_

_"No, I get it. He's your best friend."_

_"You know, you say that, but I don't think you have a clue what it means. Look, Sarah. I don't have parents. I mean, not really. I don't talk about it because that's just the way that things are now. But it wasn't always this way. Morgan was there the first day that my mom took off. He didn't say much, because, honestly, what is a fifth-grader supposed to say? But we sat and split a cherry cheesecake and played "Legend of Zelda" all night long. And my dad, well, that's a whole other story, but Morgan was there for that too. Morgan is more than just my best friend. He's my family. Before you got here, and long after you've gone, Morgan is my family."_

* * *

_"I wanted to apologize. I could've been more sensitive before about your friendship with Morgan. __It's just___…_ It's difficult. I don't really have anyone in my life like that who cares about me."_

_"Yeah, you do."_

* * *

_"Chuck, the other night, you said some pretty heavy things about Sarah, about her not being the one."_

_"Well, you know, I mean, we've got our issues. But don't... don't worry, sis. It will all work itself out."_

_"No, Chuck, it won't."_

_…_

_"It's just… it's not so easy breaking up with Sarah Walker, you know. It's uh… it's a little complicated._

_"I know."_

_"I know, and I love Sarah."_

_"I just think that if she's not the one, you got to tell her."_

* * *

_"You want to break up again."_

_…_

_"Um… look, Sarah, you know how much I care about you. It's just getting… it's getting so complicated lying to my sister and my friends. Sometimes, I don't even know what lie I'm telling."_

_"Look, tell them we're taking things slowly and that while we enjoy each other's company, we don't really feel the need to label it, and who knows what the future holds for us?"_

_"But that's just another lie, isn't it? We'll never really be together. … Exactly. Exactly, and that's why I think we should break up."_

_"Is that what you really want?"_

_"Yes, it is."_

* * *

**_**March 3, 2009**_**

Agent Barker was really getting on Sarah's nerves. Cole was walking around Castle like it was his home, not caring that there were surveillance cameras everywhere and not acting like he was one step above being locked in a cell as a prisoner. He had just walked around naked, "showing off" for whomever in at Langley wanted a view. If he had the run of the place, she wouldn't have had to stay in Castle and could have slept in her own bed last night.

Just the day before, the most important person to Sarah broke-up with her. That didn't mean she was ready to hook-up with the first attractive man that showed some interest. If she wanted some random guy, she'd wear a bikini to the beach. That was a Carina-move. Even if Sarah wanted to use someone as a rebound guy, something she had never done in her limited dating experience, the James Bond-wannabe was only slightly above Lester. He might be below Jeff because Jeff would probably fall unconscious so she wouldn't have to listen to the obnoxious things out of his mouth. Too many male spies went off the Mi-6 agent movie stereotype and thought that's how they should treat all women, like disposable objects.

It was lunchtime, and Sarah felt something was missing. She wondered if another break-up (the third) would mean Chuck would stop coming over for lunch. That was normally the highlight of her day. However, he was a little…off when he left after the morning briefing. She supposed she shouldn't expect him to still say goodbye with his normal Chuck-ish charm now that they were no longer cover-dating. She never thought the way Chuck looked at her was for the cover, though. In fact, the break-up hurt the cover under the cover. The cover that she didn't wish they were more.

Whenever Chuck's eyes sparkled, she could easily see how he felt. So could the cameras in Castle and the courtyard at his apartment. If they looked at each other that way when they weren't cover-dating, their real feelings would be more obvious. At least hers would. Chuck's feelings were always obvious.

The way he looked at her wasn't only special when he left. The same was true when she saw him for the first time after being away for a couple hours. His million dollar smile always made her stomach flip and tested her ability at keeping a bluff, even though she had perfected that skill long before she joined the CIA.

He was different that morning, though. He seemed like he had discovered that someone had run over Peaches. Then she remembered the live feed of Castle. Chuck probably was snooping, and Casey caught him, which would explain why the elder spy was so smug. Casey was always needling Chuck about his feelings towards her. He probably wouldn't stop even now that the cover had stopped. Casey was really bad before the mission in which her job was to get Cole's belt buckle.

Earlier on Castle's surveillance of the Buy More, she noticed Chuck putting three lunches in the break-room refrigerator. The first was his. The second was for Morgan, because he was staying with Chuck. The third had to be for her. The mission to get the playback device wasn't until later in the afternoon. She decided to head over to the Buy More and get her lunch.

At the Nerd Herd desk, Sarah could see Chuck was concerned at her arrival. He definitely was not overjoyed to see her. If anything, he looked guilty. Knowing a couple of the other Nerd Herders, it was a look she'd expect them to have after just hiding porn on the Nerd Herd computer. Not Chuck, though. He's the person that curbed their behavior. In fact, last week, Chuck told her what he had heard had happened on his day off—how Lester punked Emmett. When the assistant manager stepped away for a minute from a computer, Lester pulled up some lewd, NSFW pictures on it and put it into standby. After Emmett woke it up, he went outside hyperventilating.

"Hi, Sarah," Chuck greeted. "What's wrong?" Despite the attempt, Sarah thought he looked even more guilty.

She carefully avoided being flirty, but she was still friendly as she said, "I came by for lunch. I know we aren't dating anymore, but surveillance showed you brought three meal containers, so I hope I still get one."

"Right. Yes. Of course," Chuck said showing relief. "I packed two out of habit. I told Morgan that we're no longer dating, but he added a third. You can have the one I packed for you. You don't even have to eat with me…or Morgan for that matter."

Sarah didn't think that was Chuck's normal cute rambling. Something else was going on. She didn't like the idea of not being able to eat with her friend anymore, so she asked for a clarification. "Do you not want to eat with me anymore?"

"Well. Um. I thought _you_ wouldn't want to eat with _me_ anymore. You have Cole to eat with now. I assumed—"

Sarah quickly said, "You assumed wrong. I'd still like to have meals with you, even if we aren't dating."

Chuck looked confused. After a moment, he said, "Where do you want to eat? We normally eat in Castle, but it'd be awkward for the guy currently staying there. I didn't pack one for him."

"No. Definitely not there. I want to get away from him," Sarah vehemently said.

"Not so good last night? Wait. Never mind. None of my business. I _don't_ want to know. That just came out. Please forget what I said. I already have."

Sarah moved on. "What about the break room?" she suggested.

"Technically, we aren't supposed to have non-employees back there. Everyone breaks that rule, but I kinda want to get away from Emmett so I can digest my food."

Sarah lightly chuckled. "How about the beach? I'll drive."

"I don't get that much time for lunch," Chuck pointed out.

Sarah frowned. "I really wanted to talk someplace private."

Chuck furrowed his brow. "We can't use the post-lunch, storage closet excuse anymore—not that I ever did. People assumed."

"We just broke-up, and this is already causing problems for you getting away?" Sarah questioned.

"It'll be fine," Chuck said. "I figured I should save excuses for missions, but we just broke up, so we'd probably have things to talk about. That works as an excuse."

Sarah confirmed, "We do have things to talk about. I'd like to know about how this is going to work. Getting away from the Buy More and Castle," _and the cameras,_ she mouthed, "will be good. I'll drive fast."

Chuck stood up to get the lunch containers, and Sarah said, "And Chuck, what are you hiding?" That worked. Chuck looked the most guilty he had since Sarah walked into the Buy More.

Finally, he let out a sigh of resignation. "How did you know?" Chuck asked.

Sarah said, "I still don't know what, but the fact you did something is all over your face."

Chuck admitted, "I have the chip. I thought I could show you all that I could hack into it."

Sarah firmly said, "Chuck, I've learned never to doubt your computer wizardry ability. Beckman might, but that's not the primary concern. Fulcrum has used a Trojan horse with a computer chip before. It could be booby trapped when you hook it up. Don't leave it here. You hold it for now. When we get back, you're giving it to me." Sarah fixed Chuck with a look that brokered no argument.

Chuck nodded in resignation, and they went to Sarah's car. Sarah mentally added, "If Chuck keeps it for now, that gives me an excuse to not let him out of my sight."

* * *

A/N: Sarah drives fast, so there's only one chapter left.


	2. Sarah Wants Something Other Than Food

_Posted November 12, 2019_

A/N: Imagine engine noise for the initial soundtrack.

* * *

Sarah and Chuck didn't talk for a while as Sarah drove to the beach. To their spot. They hadn't been back since that first night, but there was no question where they were going. Chuck wasn't sure what it meant, though.

That spot was where Chuck really started trusting Sarah after that first-first date. Going there now that they weren't even a cover-couple was close to torture, at least in his limited understanding of torture. Chuck finally spoke, "Why are we doing this? We aren't dating anymore."

Sarah said, "We're just two friends going to lunch. We're still friends, right? I can understand you wanting to break-up so you can find somebody better than me, but I hope we're still friends."

"Of course, we're still friends," Chuck immediately confirmed. That's what everyone who didn't have a horrible break-up said. Of course, normally one of them wasn't an asset that would still be protected by the ex. Cover-ex.

"Good."

Chuck still wasn't comprehending why that were going where they were going. He didn't always follow spy-logic, but he thought something like that should be more comprehensible. He was missing something. "What do you mean by 'better?' That's not possible. We didn't break up because I thought there was someone better than you. That's not possible."

Sarah didn't answer, but her mouth formed the faintest of smiles.

Chuck noticed the sparkle from her charm bracelet. She wasn't wearing that during the morning video conference. He wondered if she had been carrying that around since yesterday, the last time she had been home.

After Sarah parked, she pulled a picnic blanket from the trunk, and the two of them walked to the empty stretch of beach that was a very important place to them. Chuck asked, "Why did you have that blanket in your trunk?"

"It's been there since shortly after we met. I thought we might want to come back here sometime on a date. It was never convenient with work—spy-work I mean. Dating you never felt like work to me. I shouldn't have prepared for us coming here, but I hoped... As you've said, it was just a cover."

Chuck didn't know this place was an option instead of surreptitiously watching Sarah write reports as he played on a PSP. He should have known that Sarah was prepared for anything.

Sarah laid out the blanket at their spot. Chuck stood watching her, flabbergasted by where they were and what they were actually doing. Sarah claimed a seat and motioned for Chuck to join her. He took a spot rather close to her side—she didn't really leave room to respectfully sit away from her—and he handed her a plastic container that contained her lunch. "Your revolution quelling utensil," he said as he handed her a plastic fork.

Fortunately, it was homemade chicken salad with grapes and almonds that didn't need to be heated or eaten on a sandwich. Chuck started his meal, but stopped when he noticed Sarah wasn't starting hers. He pointed it out. "I thought you were hungry."

Sarah took one bite and smiled, then closed her container and set it down. She seemed content to just watch Chuck eat.

As Chuck was about to finish, he pointed out that Sarah hadn't eaten more of hers. "I thought you were hungrier than that."

"I'm not that hungry."

"Then why are we here?" Chuck asked.

"I wanted to spend lunchtime with you," Sarah answered.

"But we broke up."

Sarah asked, "Did you want to break up as friends too? I wasn't sure about that. I understand you wanting to break-up as a cover couple so you can find someone other than me whom you can build a future with. Sorry, but as the person in charge of your safety, I have to warn you. We're going to do a more thorough background check on your next girlfriend. Your last three choices have been been criminals. You deserve to be happy, without being put into danger."

Chuck took his last bite and tried to process that information—not the background check, but the reason why. "OK. I'm not sure what... First, yes we're still friends."

"Good. Before I came over to the Buy More today, I wasn't sure what you wanted. I really hoped you'd still be my friend."

"Of course, I'm still your friend. I just thought I was feeling something that was unrealistic, that we'll never be together, and that not fake-dating you will make it easier for me," Chuck rambled out.

Sarah calmly said, "I'm sorry that you haven't understood. This whole thing hasn't been fair to you. We were dating as a cover."

Chuck nodded and said what had been beaten into his head. "The mission comes first."

"Yes, the mission comes first," Sarah confirmed. "I'm very fortunate that my primary mission is to keep you safe. That comes first. I want to keep being the person that does that because it's so important to me that I doubt anyone else can do it as well. If that means letting you date other people, that's what I'll do. I want you safe _and_ happy. Your happiness isn't part of my mission. I want that because you're my friend."

All of this still didn't make sense to Chuck. "You said my last three girlfriends. Since I didn't date for five years, there's not a lot of possibilities. Going backwards, there's evil Jill, then meat-smuggling Lou, then no one really... oh, you counted Jill twice."

"No. I mean me. I was a con woman. I'm sort of an official one now, as a spy. What I do is authorized in the US, but usually not in other countries. I just thought..." Sarah explained.

"But we were only dating for cover," Chuck countered. "It doesn't matter to me what you did as a child, and it doesn't matter to me what you have to do to protect the country under orders. I can tell what you're like inside. You're wonderful."

Chuck continued, "But there's something else I don't understand." The day before, Sarah had preempted his break-up discussion by anticipating what he was going to say. Now, she wasn't letting go and was pulling the "friend card." He should have known it wouldn't be so easy to break up with Sarah Walker. He tried to explain his confusion by asking about what initiated the break-up idea. "Why didn't you want to spend one more night hanging out at our house in the cul-de-sac?"

Sarah said, "I didn't say I didn't want to spend another night with you. Fulcrum found you. We were lucky to survive what happened. Minutes before you asked me, Beckman told me, I quote, 'The honeymoon is over.' I don't want anything to happen to you. I don't want her thinking that our cover relationship is distracting me and making you less safe. If something like that happens, I won't be assigned to protect you anymore, and I can't be here to keep you safe."

Chuck thought for a few seconds, "So you didn't want to spend the evening with me that night because you want to keep protecting me? Why didn't you just say that?"

"The Orange Orange has surveillance."

Chuck acknowledged, "You're right. That's true."

"If you want to rent a movie together sometime, I could have you over to my place. You'd have to bring a TV too, because I don't have one. I've heard you're good at setting those up," she said as she added a wink.

Chuck wrinkled his brow. "That sounds like a date. Are you saying you want to date? I thought you're with Cole, now."

"Cole? No," Sarah with certainty.

"But I heard you on the mission last night, and then you slept with him at Castle."

Sarah asserted, "There was no 'with.' I slept at Castle, and he was in Castle, too. Last night was a mission. We don't want a foreign agent having free reign in Castle without checking him out. He's alone there now, but the systems are monitored better during the daytime. Cole was a jerk all night. I hate to think all Mi-6 agents incessantly come-on to women they just met. During the mission, when he didn't know I was CIA, he acted like a brute. At Castle last night, he didn't act much better. The difference was I didn't have to act a certain way for a mission. I continuously shut him down, but he never let up. Walking around like he did this morning in a CIA base with cameras? He's a pervert."

"The way he took out that helicopter—he's a great spy, like Bryce."

"He left the debris from an explosion in a country where he isn't authorized to operate. The wreckage is still blocking a street downtown. I've left carnage in my wake, but not in an ally country were civilians go to work everyday. Cole's a good shot, but that doesn't mean he showed good judgement. Bryce isn't a good spy, either. The last time he was here, he almost blew my cover with your friends and family several times. He wanted me to sacrifice your life in favor of a NOC list, even though the secrets in your head are a lot more valuable. He wanted me to shoot in your direction when I had a concussion. Sure, I can normally hit that shot, but recovering from a concussion, it was too risky. If Bryce comes back to town, don't trust him. I don't trust the judgement of either Bryce or Cole."

That wasn't what Chuck thought. "Wow. I thought that was your type."

"Maybe it was as one time with Bryce, but I know him better now, and now I know you. Cole… The only reason I haven't slugged him is because he's working with us to get information from Fulcrum. We need that information to keep you safe."

None of this was what Chuck thought. "Ok. You're amazing. You ought to be able to date someone. Is that why you want a movie-rental 'date?'"

"We don't need to call it a date as a cover for Morgan or your sister. To Beckman and Casey, I'd be providing protection someplace secure. We'll hang out as friends."

"As friends," Chuck dryly repeated.

"You said we're still friends."

"Yes." Chuck cautiously confirmed.

"I think of you as _my_ best friend. I know Morgan is _your_ best friend. It's not me. He has sixteen years on me. Maybe in sixteen years…no. he'll be your best friend for thirty-two years by then, so no. It doesn't matter. I just want to still be your friend."

Chuck didn't know if he should be more stunned by the declaration of intent for sixteen-years or his stated status. He asked about the later. "I'm your best friend?"

"Yes. Who else would it be?"

Chuck answered with the name of the person he thought. "Carina."

Sarah said, "She's a friend, but she isn't what one would call a reliable friend. She never told me, but you convinced her to exchange the diamond to rescue me, didn't you?"

"How do you know that?" Chuck asked.

"I know Carina, and I know you. She _never_ should have brought you with her, though I suppose she didn't know how important you are. When you told me about what Morgan meant to you—Carina's been my friend for a few years, but that's not her. Ellie's a better friend, and she doesn't know I'm a spy. Casey's a better friend in the sense I can rely on him. You're my _best_ friend."

Chuck let that sink in a few seconds, but it wasn't fully processing, so he asked, "How's this supposed to work? I can't go over to have lunch with you every day because that's what people who date do. You don't have to kiss me for work any more."

Sarah said, "I never considered cover-dating you work. I like spending time with you. I suppose we shouldn't kiss anymore."

"No. That would be like we're dating, but we aren't anymore." Chuck didn't keep the disappointment out of his voice. Breaking up was his plan, whether he liked it or not.

Sarah gave a sly smile. "We can't kiss as friends? Like this." She leaned over and kissed Chuck on the cheek. She didn't lean back right away, keeping the sides of their faces pressed together.

After a few seconds, she finally leaned back. Chuck face stayed frozen. He thought maybe this wasn't a very good plan. Leaving her face pressed against his was not something "just friends" did, and he wasn't sure he wanted to give that up. The previous morning, he was surprised that breaking up with Sarah Walker was so easy. It wasn't so easy after all. It wasn't supposed to feel like it did. He eventually unfroze and said, "Friends don't kiss like that."

"What about like this?" Her kiss was just a peck, though she caught the corner of Chuck's mouth with her own.

Chuck couldn't clear the frozen look off his face for another moment. He thought it definitely was not a good plan. Finally, he said, "No. Not if weren't just friends."

Sarah asked, "If weren't just friends, we can't do things like this?" Sarah leaned in a third time, this time with no pretense. Their lips met, and they didn't part anytime soon. Several minutes later, they finally did stop, leaning their foreheads together and breathing hard.

That didn't feel like they were broken up. With their heads still touching, Chuck said, "We can do things like that and be friends—not _just_ friends. I want this so much, but we still can't be together, can we? I mean we can't plan to be together-together a year from now."

Sarah said, "No. You want to get the Intersect out of your head, which would mean I would have to leave, going on some other mission. I won't like it, but that's part of being a spy. I've accepted that. You want the Intersect out of your head, so I want that for you. But I still want to be your friend sixteen years from now. Maybe we can be friends that do this." Their lips joined again, hands holding each other's faces as they pressed their faces together. This time, they fell to the blanket, never separating.

After a few more minutes, they stopped, breathing hard again. Chuck joked, "Does this make us friends with benefits?"

Sarah smiled, but said, "No. No offense, but as hard as it would be for me, I can cover. I've been pretending how I feel so well for over a year, you didn't know how I feel about you. No offense but you don't bluff very well. I doubt you'd be able to every time we see each other."

Chuck figured he could live with that for now. It was far better than before Sarah can into his life. He said his sixteen-year best friend was family. He thought if they were doing kissing like that for sixteen years, it was almost like… If she was saying she wanted to be family for the next sixteen years... No. They had been broken up just over a day. "But now we're broken up. I don't want to be broken up. I want to keep doing this." Their lips met again.

This time, Sarah stopped after just a couple seconds. She said, "You're right. That plan didn't work. We're going to need to change things. If we go back to cover-dating, it'll make protecting you easier and give you better excuses for getting away from the Buy More to work with the team. If you want to stay broken-up so you can date someone else, we can try to figure out—"

"No. I want you."

Sarah smiled, and gave Chuck a soft, quick kiss. When she pulled back, her face filled with concern. She motioned between them. "You said 'friends with benefits'. I think this is a great benefit, but if it's too hard for you, I'd rather stay your friend without any of this kind of benefit. Are you sure we can we still date for a cover and be friends?"

Chuck slowly grinned. "I can suffer through it." They kissed again. This time Sarah rolled on top of Chuck as they continued to make-out for a couple more minutes.

Sarah pulled her mouth free but laid fully on top of Chuck with her head to the side of his. "We're going to have to say I convinced you that closer cover-dating is for the best, for your safety. How much we both want this will be a secret we keep from the CIA. We can't go further, no matter how much we want to, because I still believe the most important thing is to keep you safe, so I shouldn't be distracted. Do you understand?"

Chuck answered with another passionate kiss. Sarah stopped them yet again and said, "We need to stop doing that. It's relatively safe out here, but I can't be distracted." She didn't wait for Chuck's form of agreement. They both got up and started collecting the containers and blanket to walk back to the car.

Sarah said, "If we're going to be doing more of what we just did, we're going to need a cover for Beckman and Casey. That means we need to act like all we are is a cover-couple, not showing signs of the friendship or the limited benefits part. We can't do things like use government houses for a date. You'll have to trust that I'm making sure I'm keeping my best friend safe and making it so I can stay assigned here. That means that sometimes I'm going to have to act a certain way, especially in front of the cameras. I really don't think we should do more, because that's asking to get caught. If you ever want to break up again, you need to promise you'll be honest with me. I want you to be happy."

"I'm happiest when I'm with you," Chuck said with a smile. "If you're going to be my friend sixteen years from now, that's good enough for me." They could figure out more, later, but he wasn't going to press his luck.

Sarah and Chuck tightly held hands on the way back to the car. Chuck had to ask, "Was this whole thing you seducing me to be your boyfriend, again? If so, I'm fine with that. I'm just curious."

Sarah said, "No, I just wanted to make sure we're still friends. I've never had anyone who cares about me like you do, so I don't want to lose that. If I knew all I had to do was seduce you—"

"You wouldn't have had to try hard. You didn't try, and it happened anyway."

"So the next time we come here, no bikini?" Sarah teased.

"I'm not saying no to that. Having a close friend for a girlfriend is just—"

"Perfect." Sarah leaned over for a quick kiss to her best friend.

Even with Sarah's expedient driving, Chuck got back late from his lunch break.

* * *

_**The next morning, after Fulcrum has Cole, with Chuck under round-the-clock protection**_

Sarah rolled over and shut off the alarm. She rolled back to her previous position. She asked her 24-hr protectee, "How'd you sleep, Chuck?"

"Fine," he managed to say. "Actually, I didn't sleep much at all, but I'm not complaining one bit. Are you going to keep doing that?" He was referring to how Sarah had her arm tightly wrapped over him.

"When I can. I was hoping to have a few more minutes. Staying close to you is where I'm supposed to be, so I can remain like this, but I know you can't lay here all day. I don't know how much time you have before you have to get up to go to work. Please don't suggest we save time by sharing a shower. I don't think that would actually be faster. And we have to draw the line somewhere."

Chuck gave off a forced laugh. "So you wearing my shirt is on the safe side of the line?"

"My sleeping clothes aren't here, so it's on the safer side of the line than me sleeping naked."

Chuck groaned. "We should probably get up right now before we come up with any more great but bad ideas."

* * *

A/N: If you are actually paying close attention to the plot, why would Chuck be under 24-hour protection if Sarah took back the chip and Chuck didn't set off the homing signal? Suppose Sarah and Cole were captured after the botched hand-off, but escaped because the good guys always do. Cole wouldn't know Chuck is the Intersect, but he'd know Chuck worked with the CIA and NSA, and he'd know there's an important base under the Buy More. Fulcrum could connect the dots because they had the Human Intersect in Suburbs and the team was after the belt buckle.

No more to this story after this. It's not too hard to imagine things going back to canon with the 49B, or Chuck and Sarah could actually move in together. A few fanfics do that at different points in the timeline.

This specific story idea is new, but I've had the general idea in a non-fanfic sense since 2009, over a year before I read or wrote Chuck fanfic. With the shows in broadcast order, the break-up makes less sense after the friendship declaration at the end of Best Friend. If the friendship declaration was followed by an awkward cohabitation situation, it might be too much for Chuck to handle. It wouldn't take much to change his mind.


End file.
